Apple announced the redesigned Mac mini with M4 chip last October. It’s by no means a new product at this point, and its well over 6 months old. However, I think it may be one of Apple’s greatest gifts to up and coming creators, developers, and all sorts of creative professionals.
It’s no secret that Apple Silicon has enabled Apple to ship far more performant chipsets in lower end machines. Before the transition to Apple Silicon, a MacBook Air being able to edit 4K video sufficiently was nothing but a dream. Wanted to compile an Xcode project on your lap with an Intel MacBook Air? Good luck.
Apple Silicon, in a way, made Macs much more affordable. You no longer needed a 16″ MacBook Pro, for example, to get a high-end chipset in a laptop. On top of that, certain Macs straight up became less expensive. The 2018 Mac mini used to start at $799, and it lowered to just $699 with the M1 model. With the M2 model, it became $599.
I know a lot of people who used to buy high end 15″ and 16″ MacBook Pros in the Intel days, who were now able to get away with a MacBook Air with a couple RAM and SSD upgrades. It’s a great thing.
The new Mac mini takes high end performance at an affordable price-point to a new extreme. It equips 16GB of RAM by standard, which was previously a $200 upgrade. The M4 chip is also incredibly performant – and all of this is available in a package that you can purchase for just $499 if you’re a student, $599 otherwise.
In short, this computer is an incredible gift to any aspiring developers or creative professionals. I’ve been using the base model Mac mini as my main desktop since December, and the fact that it delivers all that it does at its price point is nothing short of a miracle.
Back when I bought my first Mac in 2019, if you wanted something for $499, you wouldn’t get more than a dual core processor, and you certainly wouldn’t be getting it brand new. The barrier-to-entry to get into the Mac ecosystem is as low as its ever been. That’s something worth appreciating.
One more thing: M4 Mac mini is currently on sale for $506 on Amazon, allowing anyone to pick one up at near student-only pricing.
Plus, Apple is still subject to a baseline 20% “fentanyl tariff”, despite being exempted from the much larger 145% “reciprocal tariff”. For that reason, it’s fairly likely that prices on Apple’s most affordable products may increase in the future.
My favorite Apple accessory recommendations:
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